#little green dragon

adventuresofalgy:

Algy was resting quietly in a sheltered spot out of the wind, on the comfortable rocky ledge he had discovered, when suddenly he became aware that he was not alone.

Now you or I might feel just a wee bit nonplussed if a small dragon breathing fire were to disturb our repose in such a place, but Algy was not the least bit surprised, for he knew that it was St. George’s Day, and he had always made a point of seeking out dragons on this day in order to befriend them.

For a moment, however, it looked as though this particular dragon might not be aware of Algy’s altruistic record, and Algy hesitated, wondering whether discretion would not be the better part of valour in this case: preparing to fly, he rapidly assessed the merits of a prompt retreat to another spot, from which he could assure the dragon of his best intentions at a safe distance. But fluffy birds are generally endowed with rather more valour than discretion - and Algy was mindful of the fact that most dragons can fly faster than birds - so he decided to hold his ground and greet the dragon with a Shakespearean sonnet, reminding it that it was not only St. George’s Day but also the great Bard’s birthday. Fortunately, this seemed to meet with the dragon’s approval, and it turned tail and left Algy safely on his ledge, chuckling with relief…

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

[Algy hopes that it is not necessary to tell you what he is quoting today ]

It was St. George’s Day again - a day on which Algy has always made a point of seeking out dragons to befriend.

However, with his own special dragon friend visiting him at home in the wild west Highlands of Scotland, Algy was reluctant to go out in search of other dragons: he guessed that the little green dragon might very possibly take offence. So instead they reminisced about their very first encounter, exactly one year ago today in faraway Patadragonia, when Algy had endeavoured to placate the fire-breathing creature with Shakespeare’s famous sonnet.

It was Easter time at last, and spring was advancing with its magical, unstoppable force, even in the wild west Highlands of Scotland. The weather was uncomfortably cool, wet and windy, but the more it rained, the faster spring leaped forward, and Algy observed that his assistants’ garden was bursting into life at a remarkably rapid rate.

Algy’s strange wee friend, the little green dragon, had never seen a spectacle of this kind before and was glowing at a varying speed in perplexity, while Algy himself - who had witnessed the same miracle each year - found that he was astonished and thrilled anew by the incredible transformation. Of all the blossom and flowers in April he especially loved the beautiful white cherries, which despite the inhospitable climate rarely failed to bloom in all their glory.

So from his perch in a windswept cherry tree, Algy wishes you all a very Happy Easter, and hopes that whether you are twenty or seventy, or fifteen or fifty or ninety-five, you will pause and take time to “look at things in bloom” and delight in the wonderful blossoming of spring:

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

[Algy is quoting the poem Loveliest of trees from the collection A Shropshire Lad by the late 19th century/early 20th century English poet and classical scholar A E Housman.]

It was the first weekend of spring in the wild west Highlands of Scotland, and although it could hardly be said to be warm, even in that much coveted but rarely discovered “sheltered spot out of the wind”, Algy found the sunshine quite dazzling after the endless months of darkness.

So he tucked himself down behind another patch of daffodils, together with his little dragon friend - who was glowing so brightly with the fresh colours of spring that he almost rivalled the flowers themselves - and they spent a happy day relaxing in Algy’s assistants’ garden, discussing such profound topics as the question of why not all daffodils are yellow, while Algy’s assistants indulged in the hard labour which is the duty of all gardeners at this season of the year.

As they chatted, Algy told the little green dragon that, owing to the magic that is tumblr, the image of their rainbow dance had reached many new friends, all around the world…

And so Algy sends very special fluffy hugs to all his new followers - and, of course, to all those friends who have been following his adventures for some time - and he hopes that you will all have a chance to relax in some pleasant sunshine this weekend…

☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️

Spring had arrived at last, and although the air and wind were still cold, there was a quality of warmth in the vernal sunshine which Algy had not felt for six months or more - not to mention an enormous increase in the quantity and intensity of light, which was almost too bright to contemplate after the endless months of dreary darkness under perpetual rain clouds.

Few creatures could resist the joys of such a spring day, and Algy and his little green dragon friend were no exception. When they saw a large clump of daffodils opening their petals in the sun they rushed towards them and revelled in the glory of the golden trumpets.

As Algy watched his friend inspect the unfamiliar flowers, he was delighted to observe that there were several bumblebees buzzing around them, and all the birds of the vicinity were helping to celebrate the coming of spring in their own individual voices. Some only managed a chirrup or a tweet, and some proclaimed their opinions with an incessant “widgy widgy widgy widgy widgy”, but for a moment Algy caught the beautiful sound of the first skylark of the season, singing in the heavens, and he smiled a very large fluffy bird smile.

Resting on the mossy ground under the daffodils, it was inevitable that Algy was reminded of Wordsworth’s famous verses, for, like the poet, he “could not but be gay in such a jocund company”…  although, basking in the sunshine with the little green dragon beside him, Algy was neither wandering nor feeling the slightest bit lonely.

So he hopes you will forgive him if he repeats the often-quoted poem once more for the sake of his dragon friend, for he suspects that the funny wee creature may not have had the usual advantages of a literary education when young

I wander’d lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: -
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.

[Algy is of course quoting the famous poem Daffodils by the 19th century English poet William Wordsworth.]

As Algy and his strange little friend were exploring the banks of the burn together, the little green dragon suddenly bounded towards a rock and lunged at a wee green plant that was trailing from a deep crevice.

Fascinated, Algy perched on a soft, dry heather bush beside his friend and watched while the dragon started to eat the bright green leaves of the plant with an enthusiastic glow.

“I didn’t know you ate plants,” exclaimed Algy. “I would have found you something special if I had known.”

The little green dragon interrupted its munching for a moment and looked round at Algy.

“It’s not easy being green,” it breathed softly, unwittingly quoting a much more famous character

“Of course this is not spinach, but…”

Eat a tomato and you’ll turn red
(I don’t think that’s really so);
Eat a carrot and you’ll turn orange
(Still and all, you never know);
Eat some spinach and you’ll turn green
(I’m not saying that it’s true
But that’s what I heard, and so
I thought I’d pass it on to you).    

Algy pondered for a moment, ruffling his rather dishevelled feathers. “Then perhaps I should eat something fluffy,” he mused… “Do you think chocolate brownies would do?”

[The little green dragon is quoting the poem Vegetables by the 20th century American author Shel Silverstein.]           

Algy and the little green dragon tucked themselves down cosily among the dry heather and ferns on the banks of the trickling burn, where the rushing south-east wind could not reach them, and basked in the early spring sunshine, which, by the standards of the wild west coast of the Scottish Highlands, was for once not as cold as it might be…

Notwithstanding a cool, damp sensation around the tail feathers, Algy observed that the scrubby vegetation which covered this windswept landscape had dried out like tinder in the spring winds, although the ground itself was evidently still soggy from its winter drenching, and he cautioned his friend to avoid breathing fire while they were relaxing among the bushes, for conflagrations could spread very rapidly in these conditions.

So the little green dragon obediently restricted itself to emitting a throbbing glow which posed no danger to its surroundings, and Algy perceived that in this environment his funny little friend was surprisingly well camouflaged; perhaps there were more green plants growing around its home in faraway Patadragonia than he had noticed when he was there, for the wee creature glowed both green and red.

As they chatted happily in the sunshine, Algy remarked to his friend on the amazing phenomenon which is tumblr, reflecting on the wonderful way in which his adventures could fly out around the whole wide world through this medium, alighting he knew not where, and reaching all kinds of folk, he knew not who…

This inevitably reminded Algy of a particularly famous poem, although he wondered how many people knew more than the first two often-quoted lines, for the whole was so much more to the point

Algy sends his fluffiest thanks to all his wonderful tumblr friends, both old and new, who have welcomed him back to tumblr this past week, and sends his fluffiest hugs out around the world to reach you all xoxo

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend. 

[Algy is quoting the famous poem The Arrow and the Song by the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.]

Algy had observed that his little green dragon friend was becoming a wee bit agitated, and he guessed that it might be feeling somewhat bemused and lost in the wild west Highlands of Scotland, which no doubt seemed a strange and alien land to a native of faraway Patadragonia.

So the next morning, which was fine but exceedingly windy, Algy suggested that they explore the local area around his home. He knew a wee sheltered spot by the burn where he thought his little friend might feel rather more comfortable, as it reminded him of a stream in Patadragonia to which the dragon had taken him when they had first met, almost a year ago.

Although it was mid-March, the landscape was showing little sign of spring green as yet, but while the two friends rested among the still-bare, scrubby bushes on the steep banks of the burn, yellow catkins danced on a small hazelnut tree on the opposite side of the water, and Algy knew that soon everything would burst into fresh growth once again.

The little green dragon seemed calmer beside the water, although whether that was owing to the delightfully soporific trickling sound which was always guaranteed to soothe any anxious creature, or simply to the more congenial location, Algy could not tell. But to soothe it even further, he began to recite, in a soft fluffy voice, a long poem which could almost have been written in the Scottish Highlands, but which in fact was the work of an American known as “the Keats of Kentucky”:

Misty are the far-off hills
And misty are the near;
Purple hazes dimly lie
Veiling hill and field and sky,
Marshes where the hylas cry,
Like a myriad bills
Piping, ‘Spring is here!’

A redbird flits,
Then sings and sits
And calls to his mate,
'She is late! she is late!
How long, how long must the woodland wait
For its emerald plumes
And its jewelled blooms?
She is late! she is late!’

Along the stream,
A cloudy gleam,
The pussy-willows, tufted white,
Make of each tree a mighty light;
Pearl and silver and glimmering gray
They tassel the boughs of the willow way;
And as they swing they seem to say,
With mouths of bloom
And warm perfume:

'Awake! awake!
For young Spring’s sake,
O little brown bees in hive and brake!
Awake! awake!

[Algy is reciting the first part of the long poem Catkins by the 19th century American poet Madison Julius Cawein.]

When the little green dragon woke up on the morning of 17th March it was astonished to see that Algy’s hair had turned bright green. For a moment it wondered whether it might itself be to blame for this strange transformation, but Algy was quick to reassure his little friend.

“My hair always turns green on this day,” he explained. “It’s St. Patrick’s Day!”

But unlike Algy, who lived almost within reach of the Emerald Isle, the wee dragon from the faraway land of Patadragonia had never heard of St. Patrick, and so Algy had to explain, albeit with a certain amount of tact, as he was not entirely sure what views the patron saint of Ireland might have held on the subject of little green dragons, which perhaps could be thought to bear a superficial resemblance to snakes

His little friend was fascinated to learn that a tradition of celebrating this day with “the wearing of the green” had developed long after the saint’s lifetime, and it obligingly started to glow in its own unique emerald hue. But a moment later a typically ferocious early March hailstorm swept in from the ocean, and the dragon, being an exceptionally warm-blooded beast, rushed under the nearest rock.

“Don’t hide,” cried Algy, pointing to the sky, “come with me and you can warm yourself in the glow of the rainbow.”

The little dragon looked up at the sky and gasped, because not only had it never seen spring flowers, it had never before seen a rainbow, for rain was exceedingly rare in Patadragonia, and a combination of rain and sunshine was entirely unknown.

“Follow me!” Algy shouted happily, as he swept up into the sky, and - a wee bit reluctantly - the little green dragon crept out of the narrow crevice in which it had tried to shelter, then bravely leaped into the air, although the rain and hail had not yet stopped.

“That’s right!” called Algy in encouragement. “Come and dance!”

The little green dragon hastened to join its fluffy friend, driven on, no doubt, by the hailstones pounding against its back, and in no time at all the two friends were dancing happily together in the beautiful glowing colours of the rainbow - the universal symbol of hope and joy… and of spring in the wild west Highlands of Scotland

“Happy St. Patrick’s Day!” cried Algy. “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”

And for all his friends around the world he recited this special Irish blessing:

Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!

p.s. Algy is thrilled that this St. Patrick’s Day rainbow dance with the little green dragon is appearing on Tumblr Radar 

Thank you tumblr staff - you have made Algy’s day

He sends you lots of very fluffy hugs

Thrilled by its encounter with the first daffodils that it had ever seen, the little green dragon begged to see more flowers. In its arid and windswept homeland of faraway Patadragonia, the strange wee creature had rarely seen a flower, and certainly nothing as beautiful as the spring flowers of the temperate northern countries.

But it was only mid-March in the wild west Highlands of Scotland: there had evidently been plenty of snowdrops earlier on, but they had all finished flowering now, and most of the crocuses which normally grew in Algy’s assistant’s lawn had been flattened by the wind and the rain. Algy was temporarily at a loss, until his assistant pointed him at a wee raised box bed by her house wall, in which she had planted a new collection of spring bulbs the previous autumn. It was full of jewel-like crocuses which were only now beginning to turn their faces to the sun. The little green dragon was so enthralled by this new discovery that he began to glow in a purple hue.

Algy laughed, and recited an old poem to his funny little friend:

They heard the South wind sighing
   A murmur of the rain;
And they knew that Earth was longing
   To see them all again.

While the snow-drops still were sleeping
   Beneath the silent sod;
They felt their new life pulsing
   Within the dark, cold clod.

Not a daffodil nor daisy
   Had dared to raise its head;
Not a fairhaired dandelion
   Peeped timid from its bed;

Though a tremor of the winter
   Did shivering through them run;
Yet they lifted up their foreheads
   To greet the vernal sun.

And the sunbeams gave them welcome,
   As did the morning air—
And scattered o’er their simple robes
   Rich tints of beauty rare.

Soon a host of lovely flowers
   From vales and woodland burst;
But in all that fair procession
   The crocuses were first.

[Algy is quoting most of the poem The Crocuses by the 19th century American poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.]

The next morning the friends went out into the garden together, in search of daffodils.

Most of Algy’s friends had seen these beautiful harbingers of spring many times before, but the little green dragon - who had lived a very sheltered life in the bleak and arid country of Patadragonia and then in the confines of a travelling circus - had not even heard of such flowers, let alone seen them.

The strange little creature was so excited and thrilled by the lovely yellow trumpets that he began to glow in the soft yellow and green colours of spring

p.s. Algy realises that his 10th Tumblr birthday - and his sudden reappearance on this unique occasion - will have taken most of his friends by surprise. So the celebrations of this very special birthday will continue on Algy’s sideblog @lovefromalgytoday.

Please join him on @lovefromalgy, and if you would like Algy to reblog a particular post, please mention @adventuresofalgy​ or @lovefromalgy​, or send Algy a link, or use the submission form.You are all most warmly invited

All of a sudden there was a rustling and a shuffling and a whispering and a giggling, and the sensation of a wonderfully warm glow which seemed to wrap itself all around him, and Algy, who was just a tiny, wee bit awake already, sat bolt upright with a start of surprise.

“What?… Who?… When?… How?…” he exclaimed…

“Wake up, Algy!” cried his friends, “It’s your birthday! And it’s spring! It’s time to wake up again.”

The animals pressed against him and held out a pretty little bunch of spring flowers. “Happy Birthday, Algy!” they sang. “Happy Birthday!”

Algy was quite overcome. Even his special friend the little green dragon - who he had last seen flying off to join the circus in faraway Patadragonia - was there beside him, warming the assembled company with its magical glow, which was especially welcome on what seemed to be a typical early spring day in the wild west Highlands of Scotland.

“But how can this be?” spluttered Algy. “It was October… I was drifting off to sleep on a dark, damp, dreich autumn day. I couldn’t believe how many months it would be until the spring… I was almost in despair…”

“Feel behind your ear,” whispered the little green dragon.

Algy reached up and felt something strange tucked in among his fluffy feathers. It was the magical cherry blossom which he had brought back from Easter Island the year before.

“When the autumn became unbearable, the cherry blossom put you to sleep,” giggled Algy’s rat friend Twicklewick. “You have been hibernating. Huge storms raged, trees crashed down, the wind howled constantly, rain fell almost all the time, every day was dark and overcast, and you slept through it all, tucked up under the ivy - you lucky fluffy bird! And when the world turned again and it was nearly your birthday, the cherry blossom called us - even the little green dragon, who flew all the way across the ocean to be here today.”

Algy laughed a fluffy bird laugh of joy.

“I can hardly believe it,” he cried. “But it’s wonderful to see you all again. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Thank the magical cherry blossom,” whispered the little green dragon.

And then all Algy’s friends started singing again.

“Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday you silly old fluffy bird friend,
Happy Birthday to you… Algy! Hooray!”

p.s. This is Algy’s 10th Tumblr birthday - quite an occasion, even though Algy has been absent for a while. So despite the short notice, Algy will be reblogging posts by his friends on his sideblog @lovefromalgy in a party celebration of this special birthday. You are all invited

If you would like Algy to reblog a particular post, please mention @adventuresofalgy​ or @lovefromalgy​, or send Algy a link, or use the submission form.

adventuresofalgy:

The next morning the friends went out into the garden together, in search of daffodils.

Most of Algy’s friends had seen these beautiful harbingers of spring many times before, but the little green dragon - who had lived a very sheltered life in the bleak and arid country of Patadragonia and then in the confines of a travelling circus - had not even heard of such flowers, let alone seen them.

The strange little creature was so excited and thrilled by the lovely yellow trumpets that he began to glow in the soft yellow and green colours of spring

p.s. Algy realises that his 10th Tumblr birthday - and his sudden reappearance on this unique occasion - will have taken most of his friends by surprise. So the celebrations of this very special birthday will continue on Algy’s sideblog @lovefromalgytoday.

Please join him on @lovefromalgy, and if you would like Algy to reblog a particular post, please mention @adventuresofalgy​ or @lovefromalgy​, or send Algy a link, or use the submission form.You are all most warmly invited

Algy’s 10th Tumblr Birthday party continues here on @lovefromalgytoday

adventuresofalgy:

As the weather was a wee bit inclement, Algy’s friends decided that he should move indoors in order to enjoy his 10th Tumblr birthday party in greater comfort, and as darkness fell they presented him with a magnificent mound of chocolate brownies - one of his favourite treats - topped with 10 multicoloured candles, which he was thrilled to see had magical coloured flames.

Happy Birthday Algy!